AL West Notes: D’Arnaud, Smith, Clarke
Plantar fasciitis in his right foot sent Travis d’Arnaud to the Angels‘ 10-day injured list on May 7, and it will be some time yet before the catcher is back on the field. D’Arnaud is currently using a scooter to get around, and he told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger that it will be at least two weeks before he can put any weight on his right foot. Between this recovery time, a ramp-up of baseball activities and a minor league rehab assignment, a mid-June return looks like the absolute best-case scenario for d’Arnaud’s return.
After signing a two-year, $12MM deal with Los Angeles in November 2024, d’Arnaud struggled to a .197/.255/.343 slash line over 231 plate appearances in the first year of the contract. He had a modest .614 OPS over his first 40 PA this season, so between the lack of production and now this extended IL stint, d’Arnaud’s time in Anaheim is looking like a bust for all sides. D’Arnaud’s absence is just one of many issues plaguing the woeful Angels, whose 16-30 record is the worst in the majors.
More from the AL West…
- Josh Smith will spent 7-10 days in hospital being treated for viral meningitis, the Rangers announced in a press release on Friday. As per the release, “the club will determine an appropriate return to play program for Smith once he is able to resume physical activity.” Smith has been on the 10-day injured list since May 4 due to a right glute strain, since he has since been set back by wrist soreness and now this illness. These health concerns add to what has already been a tough year on the field for Smith, as he was hitting only .217/.324/.239 in his first 108 plate appearances.
- Denzel Clarke began a minor league rehab assignment yesterday, with MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos writing that Clarke will play two games at A-level Stockton before likely heading onto the Athletics‘ Triple-A affiliate. Clarke hasn’t played since April 20 due to a bone bruise in his right foot, so it’ll be a full month on the shelf for the outfielders even though he seems to be making good progress. Already one of baseball’s top defensive center fielders in just his second MLB campaign, Clarke’s bat is a long ways behind his glove, as he has hit just .214/.262/.323 over 219 career PA with the Athletics.
Angels Reinstate Grayson Rodriguez From 10-Day Injured List
MAY 17: The Angels officially activated Rodriguez, and optioned right-hander Alek Manoah to Triple-A in the corresponding move.
MAY 16: The Angels announced Grayson Rodriguez as their scheduled starter for Sunday’s game with the Dodgers, meaning that Anaheim will officially activate the right-hander from the 15-day injured list tomorrow. A bout of shoulder inflammation and “dead arm” soreness during Spring Training resulted in Rodriguez opening the season on the IL, and delaying both his 2026 debut and his Angels debut.
Beyond those milestones, tomorrow will also mark Rodriguez’s first appearance in a Major League game since July 31, 2024. Rodriguez had a 3.86 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate, and 7.3% walk rate over 116 2/3 innings for the Orioles that season (his second MLB campaign) before discomfort in his right lat/teres area brought his year to an early end. He then didn’t pitch a single inning in the majors or minors in 2025 due to a lat strain and multiple instances of elbow soreness, with the final result being an elbow debridement surgery last August.
Injuries notwithstanding, it was still surprising when the Orioles traded Rodriguez to the Angels last November in a one-for-one swap for Taylor Ward. While Ward has been a valuable bat for Baltimore, he is a free agent this winter, whereas Rodriguez is a former top prospect who is controlled through 2029. There’s plenty of upside for the Halos if Rodriguez can get healthy, though it obviously isn’t a great sign that his tenure in Orange County immediately began with an IL stint.
Yusei Kikuchi is still sidelined at least through May due to shoulder inflammation, but with Rodriguez now approaching his return, the Angels’ rotation is a step closer to its first-choice state. Jose Soriano is enjoying a fantastic season, and Rodriguez will join Reid Detmers, Walbert Urena, and Jack Kochanowicz as the rest of the starting five.
The outlook isn’t quite as good for another Angels pitcher attempting to return after a long layoff. According to MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger, Ben Joyce‘s rehab assignment has been slowed due to some discomfort in his surgically-repaired right shoulder. An MRI came back clean, however, so it doesn’t appear as if Joyce is dealing with anything but normal soreness.
“We got a little flare-up….It’s just part of the process after a shoulder surgery,” Joyce said. “Just kind of has ups and downs. But we were pretty positive about the results. Nothing structurally wrong, it’s just working through a little soreness right now.”
It was almost exactly a year ago that Joyce underwent the shoulder procedure that ended his 2025 campaign after five appearances. Joyce began this season on the 15-day IL but will probably be moved to the 60-day IL the next time Los Angeles needs a 40-man roster spot, as he is already approaching 60 days on the sidelines.
Angels Select Jose Siri, Transfer Ben Joyce To 60-Day IL
The Angels are selecting the contract of outfielder Jose Siri, per a team announcement. Reliever Ben Joyce is being transferred to the 60-day injured list to clear space on the 40-man roster. Outfielder Bryce Teodosio has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake in a corresponding active roster move.
Siri joined the Halos on a minor league pact in February. He was invited to big league Spring Training but ended up starting the year at Triple-A. That was hardly surprising, as Siri missed most of 2025 with a left tibia fracture and only played in 16 games for the Mets. New York designated Siri for assignment in September, and he later elected minor league free agency rather than accept an outright assignment.
Now back in the Majors, Siri will take the role of Teodosio as a backup outfielder. Jo Adell has a hold on the right field job, and obviously Mike Trout isn’t going anywhere in center. Josh Lowe is struggling badly as the everyday option in left. Through his first 117 plate appearances, Lowe is batting a measly .167/.216/.287 with a 37 wRC+. It’s possible he and Siri could split time, though the Angels won’t give up on Lowe entirely. They only just acquired him in a three-team trade in January, and Lowe was an average hitter as recently as 2024.
In contrast, Siri’s recent track record is more suspect. He was a 106 wRC+ bat in 2023 with the Rays and hit 25 homers that year. However, he also struck out in 35.7% of his plate appearances and got on base at a .267 clip that was far below average. Siri needed to maintain that power and get on base more to remain valuable, but the exact opposite happened in 2024. Siri batted just .187/.255/.366 in 448 plate appearances that year, amounting to just a 78 wRC+.
More likely, Siri is on the active roster for his defense. Statcast has him at 39 Outs Above Average since debuting in 2021, including 16 OAA in center field in 2024. In addition to his plus range, Siri showed 97th percentile arm strength and 99th percentile sprint speed that year. It remains to be seen how he’ll hold up after missing so much time last year, but at the very least, Siri is a capable defender at all three outfield spots. He could see time as a late-inning replacement for Lowe and especially Adell.
Siri’s defense and ceiling as an average hitter give him an edge over Teodosio, who now goes to Triple-A. Teodosio debuted for the Angels in 2024 and has taken 213 plate appearances since then, mostly in 2025. Unfortunately, he’s offered just about nothing at the plate, batting .198/.242/.279 with a single home run and a 43 wRC+. Like Siri, Teodosio is no slouch on defense, with 13 OAA in just under 600 innings of outfield work. However, Teodosio strikes out over 30% of the time and, unlike Siri, doesn’t have the power to even approach respectable hitting. He’ll bide his time as a depth option at Triple-A until an injury crops up.
As for Joyce, his transfer to the 60-day IL is unsurprising. Joyce has been slowed in his rehab assignment by minor shoulder discomfort, although a recent MRI came back clean. The team is hopeful it’s just normal soreness and that Joyce can return soon after May 26th, when he’s first eligible to come off the IL. The Angels, who have a 5.17 bullpen ERA, could use Joyce back sooner rather than later.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
AL Injury Notes: O’Hoppe, Raleigh, Madden
Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe left last night’s game against the Dodgers with left wrist irritation, according to a team announcement. O’Hoppe sustained the injury in the top of the fourth inning on a pitch in the dirt from starter Jack Kochanowicz. The pitch ricocheted off O’Hoppe’s left wrist, and he was visited by trainers after the play. O’Hoppe remained in the game through the fifth inning before being replaced by Sebastián Rivero behind the plate.
O’Hoppe just returned tonight from a nearly three week absence due to a left wrist fracture. According to manager Kurt Suzuki (via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com), O’Hoppe was removed from the game as a precaution and did not require post-game X-rays. That bodes well for his wrist health, though it wouldn’t be unreasonable for the Angels to hold O’Hoppe out of the lineup tomorrow anyway. The 26-year-old is LA’s clear top choice behind the plate, with Travis d’Arnaud (currently on the injured list) as his usual backup. Meanwhile, Rivero has a 15 wRC+ in 134 scattered plate appearances from 2021-26, so he would be unplayable as a starter if O’Hoppe went on the IL again.
For his part, O’Hoppe says his left wrist is “just uncomfortable” (link via Michael Huntley of the Orange County Register). “It’s uncomfortable walking around. It’s uncomfortable doing anything but we’ll treat it and keep going,” O’Hoppe said after the game. That may give cause for optimism among Angels fans, though the club will continue to monitor the situation in the coming days.
A couple other injury notes from the Junior Circuit:
- Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh is being shut down for a week, according to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. He will be reevaluated at that point. Divish adds that Raleigh’s most recent MRI came back better than his previous one. Raleigh went on the 10-day injured list on May 14th with a right oblique strain, which he admitted he’d been playing through for two weeks. On its own, the oblique strain puts Raleigh out for more than the minimum stint, and that’s even more certain now that he’s been shut down. Raleigh was out to an uncharacteristically poor start at the plate, with a line of 161/.243/.317 (63 wRC+) through his first 181 plate appearances. That’s a far cry from his 60-home run, 161 wRC+ performance last year, though the oblique injury explains at least some of the downturn. With a longer-than-minimum absence in store for Raleigh, Mitch Garver and Jhonny Pereda will continue to split time behind the plate for Seattle.
- Tigers right-hander Ty Madden was struck by a comebacker in the second inning of yesterday’s 3-2 victory against the Blue Jays. Yohendrick Piñango lined a 2-2 pitch off Madden’s forearm, which Madden fielded but did not attempt to throw to first. Madden, who was intended to serve as a bulk reliever, left the game without attempting a warm-up pitch. The 26-year-old has effectively been covering the rotation spot of Casey Mize, who is currently on the injured list with an adductor strain but is expected to be activated for Sunday’s start, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Madden missed all of last year with a right shoulder strain and was making just his third appearance in the Majors since returning from that injury. Per Jason Beck of MLB.com, initial tests on Madden revealed no fracture, but he’ll undergo further evaluation regardless. If he needs to miss time, it could be a simple swap of Madden going on the IL and Mize being activated. [UPDATE: the Tigers activated Mize from the IL and optioned Brenan Hanifee to Triple-A in the corresponding move, so Madden remains on the active roster for now.]
Photo courtesy of William Liang, Imagn Images
Angels, Austin Wynns Agree To Minor League Deal
The Angels and free agent catcher Austin Wynns are in agreement on a minor league deal, MLBTR has learned. The Klutch Sports client opened the season with the division-rival A’s but was designated for assignment a week ago. The A’s asked to assign him to Triple-A Las Vegas, but as a player with five-plus years of service, Wynns had the right to refuse, which he did. The A’s then placed him on release waivers, and he subsequently became a free agent.
Wynns spent nearly one calendar year with the A’s after they acquired him in a cash swap with the Reds last June. He’d taken 63 plate appearances with Cincinnati and turned in a mammoth .390/.429/.661 slash (three homers, seven doubles), but that sort of production was never going to be sustainable; Wynns had a modest track record prior to that outburst, and while the short uptick in power was impressive, his overall batting line was also buoyed by a sky-high .513 average on balls in play.
Now 35 years old, Wynns wound up taking 110 plate appearances with the A’s and slashing .167/.204/.304 in that time. The well-traveled backstop’s career marks are somewhere between the extremes of those Cincinnati highs and West Sacramento lows. He’s suited up for the Reds, A’s, Orioles, Giants, Dodgers and Rockies, compiling a lifetime .231/.276/.347 slash line in 826 big league plate appearances (293 games).
Wynns doesn’t draw premium framing grades, but Statcast thinks he’s solid when it comes to blocking balls in the dirt. More impressively, Wynns has shut down 30.2% of attempted base thieves in the majors — right in line with his career 31% mark in the minors. He’s quite strong when it comes to controlling the run game, and clubs clearly value his experience, defensive acumen and work with pitchers, as evidenced by his five-plus years of service despite sub-par work in the batter’s box.
Because Wynns has five-plus years of service, he was able to elect free agency and still retain the remainder of this year’s $1.1MM salary. The A’s are on the hook for the vast majority of that sum. The Angels will owe Wynns only the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. That would be subtracted from what the A’s have left to pay out.
The Angels’ catching depth has taken a major hit in recent weeks. Logan O’Hoppe suffered a broken wrist in late April. That injury pushed Travis d’Arnaud into the starter’s role, but he went on the injured list last week due to plantar fasciitis.
That pair of injuries left the Halos with Sebastián Rivero and rookie Omar Martínez as the catching tandem at present. Both signed minor league deals over the winter. Rivero entered the season with only 162 days of big league service. He’s a .169/.220/.202 hitter in 134 big league plate appearances and a .248/.296/.369 hitter in 785 Triple-A plate appearances spread across six seasons.
Martinez, 25, had never played in the majors before being called up earlier this week. He’s 1-for-3 in his fledgling MLB career. The Venezuelan-born backstop posted decent numbers in the lower minors with the Yankees but slashed .208/.297/.358 with a 34.4% strikeout rate in 259 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A dating back to last season. Given that tandem’s minimal track record, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if Wynns found himself catching games at Angel Stadium in the near future.
2026-27 Club Options: AL West
In recent weeks, MLBTR has looked forward to next winter’s option classes. We’ll move now to the AL West, where the Athletics have the two most notable decisions.
Previous: AL East, AL Central
Athletics
- Jeff McNeil, 2B: $15.75MM club option (Mets responsible for $2MM buyout as part of December trade)
The A’s landed McNeil in what amounted to a salary dump trade for the Mets. The A’s needed a second baseman and pivoted to the former batting champion shortly after Ha-Seong Kim declined a four-year free agent offer. They picked up $10MM of McNeil’s $15.75MM salary for this season, with the Mets agreeing to cover the $2MM buyout on a matching club option if the A’s don’t bring him back in 2027.
It’ll probably be a one-year stop in Sacramento for the two-time All-Star. McNeil has a league average .276/.343/.362 batting line across 144 plate appearances. He’s following his usual high-contact approach but only has one home run and nine extra-base hits overall. He’s a league average hitter who plays decent but unexceptional defense at second base. McNeil is still a solid player, but he’s not going to command a near-$16MM salary for his age-35 season.
- Jeffrey Springs, LHP: $15MM club option ($750K buyout)
This one could be a trickier decision for GM David Forst and his front office. The A’s acquired Springs from Tampa Bay over the 2024-25 offseason, assuming the remaining two years and $21MM on his contract in the process. Springs was excellent when healthy with Tampa Bay but had barely pitched between 2023-24 on account of April ’23 Tommy John surgery.
The veteran southpaw has avoided the injured list over his year-plus in Sacramento. He hasn’t been as good as he was back in 2022 with the Rays. Springs has settled in as a mid-rotation arm, a control artist with league average strikeout stuff. He can miss bats with his secondary pitches, especially his changeup, but it’s a hittable fastball. He attacks the top of the strike zone with a 90-91 mph heater, an approach that gets a decent number of weak fly balls but also makes him susceptible to home runs.
That’s especially true at the hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park. Springs has a 4.93 ERA over 20 home starts compared to a 3.36 mark in 21 road appearances with the A’s. He’s certainly not their only pitcher to have a tougher time in Sacramento. The end result is a low-4.00s ERA that makes him a #4 caliber starter.
That has value, especially for an A’s team that could be at a disadvantage in pursuing free agent arms. If Springs stays healthy enough to make 30 starts with league average numbers, the A’s would probably bring him back on what amounts to a $14.25MM decision. They have some younger starters on the way (or in the case of J.T. Ginn, already performing at the big league level) but don’t have many proven innings sources behind Springs and Luis Severino.
Houston Astros
- Ryan Weiss, RHP: $5MM club option ($500K buyout)
Houston signed Weiss to a $2.6MM free agent deal over the winter. The 29-year-old righty hadn’t pitched in MLB but was coming off an excellent season and a half with the Hanwha Eagles in Korea. Weiss had turned in a 2.87 ERA over 30 starts while ranking fourth among KBO pitchers with 207 strikeouts last year.
The Astros brought him in to compete for a spot at the back of a wide open rotation. Weiss instead landed in long relief and has struggled to throw strikes, walking 15% of opponents en route to a near-8.00 ERA through his first 26 MLB innings. He has fanned 23% of batters faced and is averaging 95 mph on his fastball, but the walks and early home run issues led the Astros to option him to Triple-A last week. He worked 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts in his first start for Sugar Land.
The $5MM option is affordable enough that Weiss could still get the front office’s attention if he dials in the command. This addition hasn’t started the way the Astros had hoped, though, and it’s likelier he’ll be bought out.
Isaac Paredes’ arbitration deal includes a $13.35MM club option for 2027. He’d be eligible for arbitration for a final time even if Houston declines the option.
Los Angeles Angels
- Robert Stephenson, RHP: $2.5MM club option (no buyout)
Stephenson’s three-year, $33MM contract has been almost a complete wash. The Angels bet on the righty’s monster second half of the 2023 season, adding what they hoped to be a late-inning weapon. Injuries have unfortunately wiped out essentially all of the last three years.
The former first-round pick blew out during Spring Training ’24 and underwent Tommy John surgery that April. He was unable to make his team debut until May 2025. Stephenson immediately went back down with biceps inflammation and was out into August. He came into Spring Training healthy but suffered yet another elbow ligament injury and underwent season-ending surgery last month.
Stephenson’s contract contained a stipulation that the Angels would get a $2.5MM club option for 2027 if he suffered a serious elbow injury. That’s in play now, but it seems likely the Halos will move on after he was only able to pitch 12 times in a three-year span.
Seattle Mariners
- Andrés Muñoz, RHP: $8MM club option (no buyout)
The Mariners have one of the easiest calls for a team to exercise on Muñoz. Seattle signed him to what became a bargain extension as he completed his rehab from early-career Tommy John surgery. The hard-throwing righty has gone on to consecutive All-Star appearances as one of the best closers in the game from 2024-25.
Muñoz has unexpectedly struggled through his first six weeks of the ’26 season. He has blown a couple save opportunities and allowed 11 runs (10 earned) across 17 innings. The strikeout and walk profile is as strong as ever, though, and only three pitchers with at least 10 frames — Mason Miller, Kyle Hurt and Dylan Lee — have a better swinging strike rate than Muñoz does. He should be just fine, and the M’s will have a $10MM option for 2028. The ’27 option has an $8MM base value that’ll climb to $9MM if he finishes 45 games this year.
- Victor Robles, RF: $9MM club option ($500K buyout)
Seattle signed Robles to a two-year, $9.75MM extension in August 2024. He’d only been on the roster for around two and a half months, as the Nationals had released the outfielder that June. Robles went on an absolute tear in his first few months with Seattle, hitting .328/.393/.467 while stealing 30 bags across 77 games.
The extension window has not gone as hoped. Robles injured his left shoulder making an exceptional catch at the wall in April 2025. He suffered a fracture and dislocation that wound up costing him four months (extended slightly by a seven-game suspension when he threw his bat at a Triple pitcher after a hit by pitch while on a rehab assignment).
Robles suffered another injury within the first two weeks of this season. A right pectoral strain has kept him on the IL for the past month. Robles is with Triple-A Tacoma on a rehab stint and should be back within the next week, but he’ll probably be in a fourth outfield role now that Luke Raley has broken out of a late-April funk. This is trending towards a buyout.
Bryce Miller’s arbitration deal contains a $6.075MM club option with a $15K buyout. He’d remain eligible for arbitration even if Seattle declines the option.
Texas Rangers
- Kyle Higashioka, C: $7MM mutual option ($1MM buyout)
The Rangers have built in a few mutual options, which essentially never get picked up by both parties. They just delay the payment of a portion of the guarantee in the form of an option buyout. Higashioka will collect a $1MM buyout to conclude his two-year, $13.5MM free agent contract signed over the 2024-25 offseason.
The veteran catcher played pretty well in the first year of the deal but is out to a .203/.271/.266 start in 20 games this season. The Rangers signed Danny Jansen to a similar two-year contract last offseason and will probably look for a cheaper catching partner for him in 2027. They should decline their end.
- Jakob Junis, RHP: $5MM mutual option ($1.25MM buyout)
Texas built their bullpen with a bunch of cheap one-year free agent pickups for a second straight offseason. It’s working well again, thanks in no small part to Junis. The 33-year-old has allowed just four runs through his first 19 innings, collecting five holds and three saves without giving up a lead.
The market rarely seems to buy into Junis’ slider-heavy approach. He sits in the 91-92 mph range on his fastball and has one of the lowest swinging strike rates (6.4%) in MLB. Junis nevertheless has made a career of outperforming modest expectations. He has topped 60 innings in four straight seasons and carries a 3.13 ERA over 238 2/3 innings going back to the start of 2023.
There’s only a $3.75MM difference between the option value and the buyout price. That’s similar to his respective $4.5MM and $2.75MM salaries of the past two seasons. There’s an argument that both sides should be happy with their end of the mutual option, but history suggests at least one will opt for the buyout. Junis’ camp might hold out hope he’ll follow the Phil Maton path and find a two-year deal, or the Rangers could cut him loose despite a seemingly reasonable salary — as they did with Jacob Webb in arbitration last winter.
- Joc Pederson, DH: $18.75MM mutual option
Texas will have an easy call to decline their end of Pederson’s mutual option. That’ll conclude his two-year, $37.5MM free agent signing. Pederson has rebounded slightly from a dismal first season in Texas but is still hitting at a below-average level this year. He has a .190/.296/.331 line over 424 plate appearances as a Ranger.
Angels Notes: Pomeranz, Johnson, Peraza, Grissom
The Angels placed left-hander Drew Pomeranz on the 15-day injured list today due to left elbow inflammation. Right-hander Ryan Johnson was reinstated from the IL in a corresponding move.
The Halos haven’t provided many details about the injury to Pomeranz, but it’s notable in light of his history. Ongoing issues with his throwing arm, including multiple surgeries, lead to Pomeranz not pitching in the majors from 2022 to 2024. He had a bounceback season in 2025, posting a 2.17 earned run average over 49 2/3 innings with the Cubs.
That prompted the Halos to sign Pomeranz to a one-year, $4MM deal for the 2026 season. That gambit hasn’t worked out so far, as the 37-year-old has a 7.20 ERA through 15 innings. His 16.7% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate are both significantly worse than last year, when he struck out 28.1% of opponents and only walked 7.4%.
For now, Johnson will apparently take his spot in the bullpen. The Halos have handled Johnson very strangely thus far in his career. He was drafted in the summer of 2024, 74th overall, but didn’t pitch in the minors that year. He then cracked the club’s big league roster to open the 2025 season, despite not having any professional experience. He pitched poorly out of the bullpen for a few weeks before being optioned all the way down to High-A. He finished the year pitching well at that level as a starter.
Here in 2026, he made the big league rotation out of camp but then hit the IL due to a virus after just one start. He recently began a rehab assignment, tossing 3 1/3 innings on May 3rd, followed by five innings on May 8th.
It appears that Johnson is now available out of the big league bullpen. “I see him as a guy that can do both,” manager Kurt Suzuki said to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. “I think if we need him as a starter, we can keep him as a starter. If we need him in the bullpen, he can do that. I think the luxury of having RJ is he can do everything.”
From the outside, it appears to be a bizarrely unconventional approach, something that has cropped up with other pitchers to lesser degrees. Alek Manoah began the season on the IL due to a finger issue. He made one official rehab appearances of 4 1/3 innings at the beginning of May. He was quickly added to the big league roster. His first appearance for the Halos was a single-inning relief outing. The next time out, he tossed five innings of long relief. Grayson Rodriguez, who began the season on the IL due to shoulder inflammation, has made two rehab appearances recently. The first was five innings and the second 4 2/3. He may be quickly reinstated at the big league level for his next appearance.
Those all feel like fairly hasty rehab assignments and activations. If a club were breaking convention and had a strong reputation for being on the cutting edge of analytics, that would be intriguing. The Angels have the opposite reputation, so it feels like they’re just winging things. Considering Manoah and Rodriguez both have extensive injury histories, that doesn’t seem like a prudent approach. The Halos haven’t been good for a while and currently have the worst record in baseball at 16-28, so perhaps they are trying to do anything they can to stop the bleeding.
Yusei Kikuchi is currently on the injured list and will be shut down for a few more weeks. José Soriano is firmly entrenched at the front of the rotation. Reid Detmers, Jack Kochanowicz and Walbert Ureña should have spots behind Soriano for now. Perhaps some combination of Manoah, Rodriguez and Johnson will cover the final spot.
Turning to the position player group, a separate column from Fletcher notes that Vaughn Grissom has been getting some work in left field, with Oswald Peraza to soon join him. Both infielders are hitting well while outfielder Josh Lowe has been struggling. Lowe has a .160/.211/.283 line on the season so far. Some of that is due to a .188 batting average on balls in play but his 5.2% walk rate and 29.6% strikeout rate are also below league average and his own career stats.
Grissom is currently sporting a .264/.353/.431 line while Peraza has a .279/.344/.477 slash. The Angels have Zach Neto at shortstop most days, with Yoán Moncada at third and Nolan Schanuel at first. That leaves Grissom and Peraza battling for playing time at second base, in addition to occasionally spelling the other infielders. Neither player has any professional outfield experience, apart from some brief winter ball action for Grissom. If one or both of them can take to left field, it could provide Suzuki some extra flexibility in setting his ideal lineup.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
Angels Sign Rob Kaminsky To Minor League Deal
The Angels have signed lefty reliever Rob Kaminsky to a minor league contract, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The deal gives the Halos a no-risk depth option for their bullpen.
Kaminsky began his career in the Cardinals’ system. He was drafted by St. Louis in the first round back in 2013 and was traded to Cleveland two years later in a deal for Brandon Moss. Kaminsky worked his way up to Triple-A with Cleveland in 2019 before electing minor league free agency. He went back to the Cardinals on a non-roster pact during the pandemic season. Kaminsky appeared in five games in the Majors in 2020, allowing one earned run in 4 2/3 innings and recording three strikeouts. Those are his only big league appearances as of now.
Kaminsky spent 2021 in the Phillies’ system, then 2022-24 with the Mariners. He returned to the Cardinals’ system once more in 2025 but only threw four innings across two levels. Apart from that, Kaminsky also pitched in the independent American League in 2024-25 as well as the World Baseball Classic in 2023 and 2026. He doesn’t strike out many hitters, but he has posted groundball rates in the 50-60% range at most levels in the minors. Kaminsky has well-below-average velocity, running a 90.1 MPH four-seamer in 2024. Given that limitation, if Kaminsky eventually returns to the Majors, his ability to induce grounders will be the key to his success.
For the Angels, there is zero risk in bringing Kaminsky into the organization as a depth flier. The club’s bullpen is one of the worst in the Majors with a 5.42 combined ERA. Jordan Romano was the nominal closer before being released and signing with the Rockies on a minors pact. Among the remaining arms, Ryan Zeferjahn is arguably the most valuable. He has a 4.58 ERA in 19 2/3 innings, though his 2.14 xERA and 2.72 FIP suggest he’s due for positive regression. Brent Suter and Sam Bachman both have ERAs under 4.00, as well as groundball rates over 50%. Kaminsky fits into the latter mold as a groundball specialist. It wouldn’t be totally out of the blue to see him called up at some point by the rebuilding Angels.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Hanisch, Imagn Images
Angels Select Omar Martínez
The Angels announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Omar Martínez. He’ll take the active roster spot of fellow backstop Travis d’Arnaud, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list with right foot plantar fasciitis, retroactive to May 7th. The Halos have had an open 40-man roster spot since Nick Sandlin was designated for assignment earlier this week, so Martínez can fill that vacancy without a corresponding move. Movimiento Aguilucho reported on the Martínez promotion prior to the official announcement.
Martínez, 24, was an international signing of the Yankees out of Venezuela back in 2018. Last year, he climbed from High-A to Double-A and then Triple-A, though with declining results as he moved up. He had a .231/.337/.377 line when first promoted, then hit .212/.281/.376 and .200/.307/.280 at the next two stops. He struck out in 42% of his Triple-A plate appearances.
He became a minor league free agent at season’s end and signed with the Halos. He’s been with Triple-A Salt Lake so far this year, having produced a .212/.307/.424 line while striking out at a 34.7% clip.
The crew from Anaheim began the 2026 season with a catching tandem consisting of Logan O’Hoppe and d’Arnaud. They’ve lost both of those backstops in the span of a couple of weeks. O’Hoppe was hit on his wrist by a foul ball on April 25th. He suffered a fracture and was placed on the IL, with the Angels selecting Sebastián Rivero to take his place on the roster. Rivero has a .182/.231/.218 line in his big league career and a .248/.296/.369 slash at the Triple-A level.
It’s a tough spot for the Angels. Just about any club would be challenged by losing their top two catchers, forcing them to rely on two depth options. But the Halos came into the year needing a lot to break right in order for them to compete. They’re not having much luck so far, currently sporting a 15-23 record which has them tied with the Astros for worst in the American League. Almost the entire A.L. is floundering, so the Halos are technically only three games out of a playoff spot, but it’s going to be tough to gain ground with O’Hoppe, d’Arnaud, Yusei Kikuchi, Robert Stephenson and others on the IL.
For Martínez, it’s surely a thrill to get to the big leagues after almost a decade in the minors. He’ll be making his big league debut as soon as he gets into a game. He has a full slate of options and could be sent back down to the minors easily. The Halos will probably be on the lookout for more catching depth, given their current situation. The Athletics designated Austin Wynns for assignment yesterday, so perhaps the Halos will look to trade for him or grab him from waivers. Reese McGuire elected free agency a couple of weeks ago, so that’s another option.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Nick Sandlin Elects Free Agency
May 6: Sandlin cleared waivers and elected free agency, according to the MLB.com transaction log. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he returns to the Halos on a fresh minor league contract.
May 4: The Angels announced that left-hander Sam Aldegheri has been recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake. In a corresponding move, right-hander Nick Sandlin has been designated for assignment. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.
Sandlin, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Halos in the offseason. He was added to the big league roster about three weeks ago. Since then, he has logged 8 2/3 innings but has unfortunately surrendered 11 earned runs in that time. He allowed nine hits, including two home runs. He walked five batters and hit another three while striking out five opponents.
The Angels have bumped him off the roster after those struggles. He has options but he just hit five years of big league service time in recent weeks. By getting to that line, he can no longer be optioned to the minors without his consent, hence the DFA. He can be in DFA limbo for as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Halos could take five days to field trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers sooner than that.
Sandlin does have some major league success but the past year or so has been rough for him. From 2021 to 2025, he logged 211 2/3 innings in the show with a 3.19 earned run average. His 11.4% walk rate was high but he struck out 27.3% of batters faced. Injuries hobbled him with the Jays last year. He made trips to the injured list for a lat strain and then later for elbow inflammation. He only tossed 16 1/3 innings around those IL stints. The Jays outrighted him in November and Sandlin elected free agency.
The Angels were hoping for a bounceback but couldn’t get it. He started his season with a 1.42 ERA in 6 1/3 Triple-A innings but with poor underlying metrics. That low ERA was mostly a byproduct of a .222 batting average on balls in play and 87.5% strand rate. When he got called up to the majors, his results regressed to an extreme degree.
If Sandlin clears waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency. His recent form has been rough but some clubs may be interested in signing him to a minor league deal, hoping he can get back to his previous form with some regular reps.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images